let me finish with this. the big story tonight is the pthd's nomination of chuck hagel. i think the fairest thing to do is to give this nomination a solid chance. let's see if he's the kind of person to give this enormous responsibility. personally, i think the attacks on him have been pushed hard by the right wing. he's restrained, skeptical. i am to like him for this reason, like dwight eisenhower. hagel knows the reality of war, not from the top but from the mud level. the g.i.s have to do the actual fighting. so when you watch the hearings, think of the americans out there on post tonight all alone in a place far from home. give some thought to the possibility they'd like to have a pentagon chief who knows just what that's like.

and that's "hardball for now," thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks, chris. and thanks to you fr tuning in. tonight's lead show down over defense. today, the president officially nominated his choice for defense secretary. vietnam veteran and former gop senator chuck hagel of nebraska. already, republicans are signaling a major fight over his nomination. they apparently think the president should have the right to pick his own team, even though hagel has all the qualifications for the job. >> chuck hagel is the leader that our troops deserve. this day, chuck bears the scars and the shrapnel from battles he fought in our name. chuck hagel's leadership of our

military would be historic. he would be the first person of enlisted rank to serve as secretary of defense. one of the few secretary who is have been wounded in war. and the first vietnam veteran to lead the department. in chuck hagel, our troops see a decorated combat veteran of character and strength. they see one of their own. >> hagel was twice awarded the purple heart, a two-term senator who served on the foreign relations committee and co-chair of president obama's intelligence advisory award. >> mr. president, i'm grateful for this opportunity to serve our country again. and especially its men and women in uniform and their families. these are people who give so much to this nation every day with such dignity and sellessness. >> already, hagel is getting support from both sides of the aisle.

former secretary of state colin powell says i wholeheartedly endorse president obama's nomination for former senator chuck hagel to be the next secretary of defense. senator hagel is well qualified with his broad experience in national security affairs. he's the president's choice. he's clearly a qualified candidate. but, yet, again, republicans are attacking one of the president's pick. and this time, they're turning their backs on one of their own. senator lindsey graham says he's out of the mainstream. john mccain says he has serious concerns about hagel's views on national kurt. and senate minority leader

promises hagel a lot of tough questions. many of these same -- now, the propgsing a big fight to oppose his nomination. but, in the end, will the president get his man? joining me now is retired general wesley, former nato commander now chairman and ceo of wesley clark and associates. and former pennsylvania governor, ed rendell now an nbc news analyst. doesn't the president get to pick his own team? or has something changed? >> absolutely he's going to pick his own chief. the right wing is lining up to fight him and there may be some

votes against him. i think when chuck hagel gets on the hill and he talks to senators one-on-one and gets in groups and they have to face one of their own former colleagues, a man who's got experience, sound judgment, compassion, everything needed to be a great secretary and member of the president's candidate. >> but, general, i mean, why are we seeing this lack of acceptance of the president's team? you had susan rice, you've had all of these way out attacks on the attorney genric holder. are they trying this with hagel? why is it no matter what this president nominates, they find a reason to fight it. >> i think this is the next front, you know. they didn't do so well on the fiscal cliff. now they've got to find another partisan opening. i think it's a partisan attack. i think it's designed to help

them raise money to strengthen their party's position from the mainstream position of the president. >> governor, when you look at john mccane, for example, john mccain says he has concerns about hagel's positions on national security issues today. but in 2006, when he was plotting a run for the presidency, mccain said i'd be honored to have chuck with me in any capacity. he'd make a great secretary of state. same john mccain. mitch mcconnell who says there will be tough questions for hagel. is john mccain just a bitter man because president obama beat him and he's just bitter and keeps attacking whatever the president does and mitch mcconnell is still trying to live up to his saying that will

make him a one-term president and in the second term, he's still trying to ruin the obama presidency? >> i think this is all a question of sour grapes. you said it first. leaving aside chuck hagel's qualifications, and he's as fine a man that ever served in the senate, number one. number two, not all of the good thing that is you dlelineated ad the president delineated, but he's probably done the most in the history of the senate. he's been e norronormously effe. i think guys like me who entered the army as privates, that warms our heart all over. he's a great pick. what you said correctly, reverend sharpton, wlen you said the president has the right to pick his own team. it's always been the tradition in america. unless there's something grievously wrong with an individual, or unless that individual is clearly

unqualified, the president gets to pick his own team. that's whether it's a republican president or a democratic president. i disagree with my good friend, general clark, who's usually as bright as anybody in the business when he says that they're bithey building their own ramp. maybe that's what they're trying to do, but it's going to backfire terribly. the american people are going to turn on them if they try to derail chuck hagel. the first enlisted man ever. great credentials. i think this will backfire enormously. you can't be bitter. you've got to be gracious winners and gracious losers. >> you know, governor u former senator max cleveland, a captain in the vietnam war, and he said about the appointment of chuck hagel to defense and john kerry to state. he said it could change american foreign policy in our stance on

war. let me read to you what he said, general. >> it's a great statement. and i think it's a really important insight that needs to be brought front and center for the american people. both john kerry they are not going to be people to rush to commit america to conflict without knowing how to finish the job that we've started.

they're going to carefully look at when our troops are committed. they're going to look at the objectives, the constraints and the best decisions. >> now, governor, they have tried to raise some controversy about statements he made many years ago and all of us in the public who are going through that. his positions on israel saying the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here. but in the same interview, he said this, listen. >> and went onto say he supported the state of israel and supported whatever this country allies, something to th

effect. will they be able to use these statements, despite the fact that they praised them since they were made to try and undermine this nomination. >> chuck hagel voted for $38 billion in foreign aid and defense aid to go to the state of israel. $38 billion over his senate career and his career on the senate foreign relations committee. that's a fact. i know there's some people in our party who are upset about an ambassador that was openly gay. well, the human rights committee has issued a statement saying they accept his apology. they forgive him and they understand how far he's come. they forgive him. that's good enough for the human rights committee.

it's good enough for everyone in the united states senate, as well. >> we're going to leave it there. thank you both for your time tonight. >> good night. >> thank you, al, good to be with you. >> good to be with you. coming up, speaker boehner says he needs his job like a hole in the head. that's a funny way to celebrate re-election. just what is the speaker up to. we'll have that story. and the tea party gets even more unpopular. so gop has an answer. tea party favorite ted cruz, the new extremism of the republicans newest star. plus, hillary clinton gets a big surprise on her first day back to work since being hospitalized. here's a hint. it wasn't an apology from the fix losers. you're watching "politics nation" only on the place for politics, msnbc. [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters?

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have you joined the politics nation conversation on facebook yet? we hope you will. today, everyone was welcoming secretary of state hillary clinton back to work. charvette says glad she's back and looking well. wilma says continue the good work and stay healthy. americans need you. >> kochling up, we'll show you the gifts she got from her staff. you'll want to see this. but, first, we want to hear what you think about hillary clinton or any other topic that interests you. please, head over to facebook and search politics nation. and like us to joinl the

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there's a new fever sweeping the country. have you heard about it? it's called shutdown fever. and mitch mcconnell just caught it. >> would you rule out a government shutdown to achieve your goals? >> what i think we ought to do is encourage the president to actually be president. address the single biggest -- >> i understand you. my question is would you rule a government shutdown. >> i know what your question is, what i'm saying is i haven't

given up on the president stepping up to plate. >> not ruling out a government shutdown. but it's not just him. congressman matt salmon has it, too. >> i was here during the government shutdown in 1995. it was a divided government. we had democrat president of the united states. we had a republican congress. i believe that that government shutdown actually gave us the impetus as we went toward to push toward some real serious compromise. >> do you think that's a good idea? >> yes, i do. i think it's about time. oh, yeah, it's about time. no time like the present to completely destroy the economy. but this fever is spreading. paul ryan caught the book. senator ted cruz has it. holding the economy hostage to demand bungt cuts? a shutdown would mean americans

would lose jobs, lose social security checks, veterans would lose benefits, medicare patients would be left waiting. joining me now is nia malika henderson and michelle cotter. thank you both for being here tonight. >> republicans are threatening to destroy the economy. is there anyway out of this? >> mitch mcconnell doesn't seem to be completely on board. >> but he wouldn't say no, either. >> you're right. he wouldn't rule it out completely or rule for his other people and say this is a real, real viable option. you know, i think what we see is a republican party that doesn't quite know what it's going to do

in terms of bargaining around the debt ceiling limit. they've got a situation where th they're obviously talking about cuts. but one of the problems is people don't really wants cuts. and, also, i think the other reality is if you look at what's happened so far, i think we've cut out quite a bit. revenue that's come in so far, actually, i think it's been a third or fourth of that. so thal eve got a real challenge going forward in terms of what are we going to speak with. >> michelle, as long as it's out there where you have some just overtly saying shutdown is good, i'll do shutdown. don't we need the leadership like mcconnell to say

unequivocally, we're not talking about a shutdown nou. it's not a good thing. even nut gingrich, the architect of the shutdown in the '90s says it's not good. it makes one wonder are the others speaking in a set or tone that they can use as an option and that that would be disastrous for this country and the economy. >> i think if the cliff negotiations taught us anything, you can't listen to the hardline luster this early in the game. if you'll look at how close we came with the last stand off, everybody takes their hardlined positions. mcconnell is not going to go out there on the lamb and shut down these hard liners at this point. he's going to want to go in there with a strong of position as he can, making as big of

threats with his con frerns. &kind of push back against obama. at this stage of the game, he's not going to make a strong stand. >> now, nia merks alquia and former speaker was on "face the nation. and she said she would use the 14th amendment to avoid a shut down. listen to h. >> if i were president, i would use the 14th amendment that says -- >> you would just go ahead and do it. >> okay. right. >> what do you think the american public has been supportive of the president so far. what do you think they would do is the president just said i'm going to use the 14th amendment.

and 57% say the pthd got more than what he wanted. >> you know, i'm not sure how the public will react. he's not going to ha lewisuate at all over this. he's probably going to have to move. as things go forward, oh, he does think that he's going to use this 14th amendment. i think um have lots 06 democrats and fro greszives and liberals safing they should invoke that 14 amendment laws. i think they're worried about the optics. again, a lot of blustering and brink ship going on already.

any one of the things at stake, the entire world economy. and i don't think republicans, if they're looking back at what happened in '95, '96, it was good for clinton that they shut the government down. it wasn't good for republicans at all. it very much set up a situation where bob dole was hurt in his campaign. if they want to help president obama in terms of approval ratings, don't shut the government down. >> michelle, the republicans are now saying their taxes are off the table. >> we've resolved the tax issue now. it's over. it's behind us. we were able to get permanent tax relief for 99% of american taxpayers. >> your reaction to that?

is it off the table? >> of course it's not off the table. what mcconnell is betting on is that americans are going to forget all of those cuts in spending the last time we did this and thought oh, okay, the republicans are give on taxes this time. you've got to have all of these things on the table if they have any hope. everything will have to be on the table. it is interesting. they seem to have a problem with that mat mat kal issue all of the time. nia and michelle, thank you both for your time tonight. still ahead, paul ryan votes to let sandy victims suffer without relief money. but he wasn't always so cold. we have a hi pock ra si alert coming.

plus, secretary of state hillary clinton back to work together but we're still walting for the apology e polg at the claims he'll question or he'll miss,even for them, ilgts's really lame. you're watching "politics nation" right here on msnbc. ♪

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last week, 67 house republicans voted against relief for victims of hurricane sandy. but, surprise, surprise. most sing a different tune if those are in need are from their home. think progress reports that 37 republicans who opposed the bill had earlier supported disaster relief for their own states. leading the pact? congressman paul ryan. he said no to sandy last week. but he said yes to federal funding in 2008 after flooding in his home state of wisconsin. and then there's congressman from mississippi. he voted against the sandy bill, too. but just four moblts ago,

palazzo was thrilled to receive federal aid after hurricane isaac. he said we cannot thank the governor's office and fema enough for their continued support. he even held a press conference to talk about the importance of federal aid. >> i was able to sit in on a financial services hearing and we were talking about the importance of a national flood insurance program. 20,000 communities across america live on or near water and that program was so important to provide stability to families. >> that hipocracy is great. but, wait, there's more. after hurricane katrina in 2005, he was lining up to ask for federal help. he even put his name right on the paper work. send us money so we can put families back together. send us money? oh, i see.

you need those funds right away when it's going to help you and yours. but when the victims are in blue states who voted for president obama, well, then they're on their own. did you congressman think we give you any relief from your own hipacracy? nice try, but we got you. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair.

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this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a latte will ya, please? we can announce this right now. most of the confederacy. that's a lot of electoral votes. >> that was one of john stuart's best lines on election night. pointing out a big truth for the day's gop. the heart of the party is in the old south. they're shrinking, basically, everywhere else and is dragging the party even further to the right. the los angeles times reports last week, 59% of the votes on

the fiscal cliff that voted no came from republicans in the south. a majority of republicans from outside the south supported the deal. and on sandy disaster aid, 56% of the no votes came from southern republicans. that's despite passionate support for the bill. from republicans in the north ooet. the etiological base of the gop is now in the old south. just listen to one of their newest stars, the tea party senator from texas, ted cruz. >> the reason i am a conservative is because conservative policies work. i think common sense needs more common sense and principle. >> washington doesn't need more compromise? this is from the guy who's supposed to be their bright new star? no wonder john boehner can't handle the right wing from his

party. they're disconnected from what the rest of the country wants. no wonder boehner says i need this job like i need a hole in the head. joan boehner has the job nobody wants. head of the incredible shrink g gop. joining me now is krystal ball and dana millbank and an msnbc analyst. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thanks for having us, rev. >> krystal, isn't the gop's big base in the south hurting them and and hurting the rest of the country. >> it absolutely is. the more the party shrinks down, it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy because the republicans get associated with the very far right, con serveltive politics that are very popular in the south. so it makes it harder for northeastern republicans across the country outside of the south to get elected.

and what we see is in many of these districts, they're not worried about a challenge from the left. they're not worried about their general election. they're worried about primary battles and increasingly, too. they're concerned with having a national tea party activist base where they can fund raise from. we see people like the representative fund raising off the fact that boehner and the establishment republicans are against him and he's a thorn in their side. >> dana, when you look at the tea party's record unpopularity, it's broke records now. 49% have unfavorable view. 56% have become less influential over the last year. as they sink in popularity, what happens to the gop? do you start seeing defections

in the northeastern republican? will there be some awakening in the southern stronghold of the republicans right? i mean, how is this going to work itself out. >> well, it looks, reverend, as if it's going to get worse before it's going to get any better. this was the source of the revival of the republican party as in making the south solidly republican. bup now we're seeing the consequences to this. and that is that the northeast and the coast are becoming justice democratic. now, the paramount problem for the republicans right now is this one of demographics. and that they're becoming this party of conservative, southern white males. and that is certainly not the direction the country is moving in. in terms of demographics. they feed to figure out a set of policies to get around that. the problem is, just as the country is moving in another

direction, this sort of mind set has been cemented in the congress and particularly in the republican house majority. they have a disproportionate number of seats, far more than they actually earned from the popular vote from the electorate. >> and krystal, he talks about the cementing in the minds of the congress, but when you see this litany of far right, outrageous comments coming from some of the republicans on the far right, it's cementing that in the minds of the american public. just watch some of these statements that have been made by this. >> the last vote we took today was to eliminate the word lunatic from our federal law. and i don't have a problem with lunatic. >> i've gom to understand all of this stuff i was talking about evolution, embryogy, big bang

theory. all of that lies straight from the pit of held. >> these are the extreme, extreme statements. >> extreme statements. and, again, you know, it's a political calculous here where you cannot possibly be too far to the right for most of these members of congress running in these districts. i think it's very interesting to note that in the senate, there were very few republicans who defected from the fiscal cliff bill vote. because they have to run for the whole state. so they have to represent a broader constituency in the house, totally different situation: because it's a narrower -- >> these districts where they only have to worry about how far to the right can they get. and there's another interesting thing at play here. i went back and took a look during the summer, 2011. research did a poll asking people if they want to see a

compromise. 81% of democrats said yes, we want a compromise. 69% of ind pen dents said yes, we want a compromise. so you also just have a more idealogical group. they want to see this principle leadership that doesn't look to would recollect with the other side. >> but dana, let's pick up on that point where krystal is bringing up the point twebetwee the senate and the house. you have this roll call deadline that boehner was a coup atecht larger than first thought.

remember, it took two years to really orchestrate the removal of gingrich. the conservatives keep pushing. so why do you have the senate, who runs statewide, as krystal says, being a lot more moderate and few defections, you've got these congressman not only defecting, but, still, planning and plotting a coup on john minnesota. >> you know, what's interesting, reverend, is you played that clip earlier about them getting rid of the word lunatic. but there does appear to be a great deal of lunacy in the house. but if you look more closely at what's going on there, the problem with this is they're behaving in a perfectly rational way. you have the vast majority of members of the republican majority and a significant number of the democratic minority as well, are only, as krystal was saying, fearing

tlets from primaries. the natural thing to do is move further and further to the rooigt. not to compromise. not anything that has to do with this president in particular. it's not, in that case, a malter of lunacy. but they're just being cool and rationale about it. i don't see how they can -- how we can get around that. you can't ask for them to behave themselves because they are behaving in a rational way. >> giving the districts that they're running in. i'm going to have to leave it there. krystal, dana mill bank, thanks for your time tonight. >> thanks. >> be sure to catch krystal on "the cycling "right here on msnbc. still ahead, hillary clinton is back at work and gets a big surprise from her staff.

but we're still waiting for an apology from all of those pun dants who thought she was faking her illness. and, president obama and joe biden are working on something big. we have an inside account of what's going on behind the scenes. and it may surprise you. you oo 're watching "politics nation" right here on msnbc. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

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anybody who was up in newtown who talked to the parents, who talked to the families, understands that something fundamental in america has to change. something has to work. and it is not enough for us to say this is too hard so we're not going to try. >> president obama vowing to take action on gun control to prevent another newtown-like tragedy. he appointed vice president biden to take a lead, take the lead, in a task force on gun

control. today, we're getting our first accounting of what's going on inside the group. and it's paed. washington post reports they're considering changes to go far beyond their ban on assault weapons. it includes universal background checks. a national weapons tracking data base. tougher penalties for people who bring guns close to schools. and tougher penalties for giving them to minors. this is potentially important news. there is no longer the same old, same old. it feels different. the vice president is expected to present recommendations this month. and for some measures, president obama miekt not have to wait for congress. some proposals could be "implemented by executive action." now is not the time for division.

it's the time to turn the tragedies into movement for change. >> joining me now, an msnbc contributor. he recently wrote about the newtown shooting in a story titled from trayvon to newtown. i'd like to go back to your piece for a minute. you wrote in a piece after every mass killing, the nation has suffered. we said this time would be different. this time would be change to the nation's gun laws. this time, we would stop the endless flow of tears. maybe next year. this seems like a real movement from the white house. what do you make or what's going on inside of biden's permission? >> clearly, they've taken a

lesson from newtown, being we have to draw the line somewhere. we've been through many mass killings through the president's term. but what happened in newtown, what happened in sandy hook elementary school was something we had never seen before. a gunman from outside the school going inside and killing children as young as six and seven years old. we'd never seen anything like that. school is supposed to be a safe space. and particularly, in elementary school, if something like that cannot sere your consciousness and make you want to move and change things, then i'm not sure what will. so what you saw from the president when he spoke in the briefing room when he choked up in the briefing room, and then almost immediately appointing vice president biden to chair this task force, what we're hearing about, what the task force is considering, am knowing also that the deadline is before the end of this month and that the president is gifling a state of the union address probably early next month, that we are

seeing swift action at least in terms of making recommendations for congress to consider. >> now, the white house plans to out reach broad groups on the right wing. not just expected. we hear they're reaching out to gunl retailers including walm t walmart, religious leaders, mental health professionals. wouldn't if they have such a broad coalition of different interests, different groups. wouldn't that help to better lead to some real change here? >> sure. i think what's -- what's happening in the past is that the national rifle association has been very good at mobilizing its members, mobilizing the money that it has, but also depending on, again, such measures. but also depending on sort of our fleeting attention span to work in their favor. if we forget about what happened

in aurora, what happened in tucson, what happened in knew newtown, then that unearths to the nra's benefit. what appears in the vice president's commission appears to be doing is looking at ways to mobilize the anger and frustration about what happened in newtown. >> let me ask you this quickly. i asked you earlier, the washington post, your paper's report, says that president obama wouldn't have to get congressional approval for some of the measures. "possibilities include changes in federal mental health programs and modernization of gun trafficking efforts by the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. >> right. and so, you know, again, these are recommend daxs that we're hearing about from a commission

that isn't exactly holding public hearings. i think what we need to do is wait and see what they propose. and then, also, how they propose the president is able to do these things. i think the question will be how? what's the legal basis for the president to do the sings that they say they can do on his own. >> well, we'll be watching. jonathan, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> coming up, hillary clinton goes back to work and she was given a gift by her staff. you'll want to hear this. we're coming right back. stay with us. mush push what are you doing?

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. finally tonight, good news to report. take a look at this picture released today. secretary of state hillary clinton back at work for the first time in 29 days. she's leading a weekly staff meeting. a concussion and blood clot that sent her to the hospital for three days and check this out. the clinton team has a great sense of humor. as a gift, the staff gave her a football helmet complete with the department of state logo on it. they also gave her a jersey with the number 1112 for the number f countries she's visited. so secretary clinton and her staff had a good laugh today. but here's something that's not funny. in the moments right after her concussion, this was the response from some on fox news. >> when you don't want to go to m